2013 Winner Wales Book of the Year

19-Jul-2013

The 2013 Wales Book of the Year Award is presented to the best Welsh and English-language works first published in 2012 in the fields of creative writing and literary criticism in three categories: Poetry, Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction. The Award is administered by Literature Wales.

The 2013 winners announced on July 18th are:

The winner of the Wales Book of the Year Award 2013 goes to Clueless Dogs by Rhian Edwards

Celebrating the centenary of Captain Scott’s arrival at the South Pole in 1912, Banjo gives us new psychological insight into the lives of the early Antarctic pioneers, as well as an extraordinary account of the role played by music in surviving the long Antarctic winters.

Burying the Wren
Deryn Rees-Jones (Seren)

In Burying the Wren, Deryn Rees-Jones returns to familiar preoccupations but with a new clarity and maturity of vision. With intense lyricism she calls on the Roethkean ‘small things’ of the universe, and sets them up against loss.

Fiction:

The TestimonyJames Smythe (Blue Door)- -WINNER

A global thriller presenting an apocalyptic vision of a world on the brink of despair and destruction. The Testimony is a gripping story of the world brought to its knees and of its people, confused and afraid.

A Girl’s Arm
Gee Williams (Salt Publishing)

A Girl’s Arm is a collection of stories homing in on the pressure points in the lives of its characters. The stories focus on that single extraordinary event from which the course of his or her particular narrative veers off and they are offered the chance to become what they were meant to be.

Singing a Man to Death
Matthew Francis (Cinnamon Press)

Singing a Man to Death is a collection of short stories notable for its range, sophistication, and readability. Displaying linguistic range and richness, characters are stranded in or confronted by disorientating milieus.

Creative Non-Fiction:

Forgotten Footprints - WINNER
John Harrison (Parthian)

Forgotten Footprints takes you on a journey into the heads and hearts of those who were driven to explore this unknown land of Antarctica, guided by a man with many years’ experience of this mysterious continent.

Wales at Water’s Edge
Jon Gower (Gwasg Gomer)

Published to coincide with the opening of the All-Wales Coastal Path, Wales at Water’s Edge is a visual and verbal evocation of the journey around the Welsh coast that is grounded in a deep knowledge and understanding of the highways and byways of Wales at water’s edge. With photographs by Jeremy Moore.

Welsh Lives
Meic Stephens (Y Lolfa)

In this book of obituaries, Meic Stephens celebrates the lives of 75 eminent Welsh people who have made significant contributions to life in Wales during the last few decades. All are treated with a warm appreciation of their achievements and a knowledgeable account of their lives and times, so that the reader will find much to enjoy in remembering them in this way.